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129% stock growth nets UNT team 2nd in TD Ameritrade virtual contest

DENTON (UNT), Texas — A team of University of North Texas students ousted more than 450 groups and captured the second place prize in the TD Ameritrade, Inc.-sponsored thinkorswim Challenge, a trading competition that challenges collegiate teams nationwide to grow their virtual stock portfolio to the max. The UNT team, SoSig, increased its portfolio by 129.02 percent, creating a final portfolio value of $1,145,078.73 at the end of four weeks of trading.

As part of the award, SoSig brought in a $20,000 prize for UNT and each member will have a $2,000 prize deposited into a TD Ameritrade brokerage account and will receive an Apple iPad® Mini 3. The four students who won second place were all current or former members of UNT's Student Investment Group:

Senior Dylan Barnard, a portfolio manager for the group who is working on a bachelor's degree in finance.

Senior Kshitij Menon, a portfolio manager for the group who is working on a bachelor's degree in decision science.

Senior Edward Mun, a senior analyst with the group who is working on a bachelor's degree in accounting.

Master's candidate Paul Ucheoma, a former president of the group who is working on a graduate degree in economics.

Another UNT group, The NOTORIOUS S.I.G., came in fourth place. In all, out of the 476 teams from colleges and universities throughout the U.S. who competed, 14 groups were affiliated with UNT. Each group began with $500,000 in virtual money to invest in real time for the challenge. The top teams at the end of week also won cash prizes; UNT's Significant Gains win during week one netted each member of the group $500 in award money.

This is not the first time UNT has done well in a TD Ameritrade contest. Last November, UNT students won the inaugural TD Ameritrade thinkorswim Challenge, growing their portfolio to $1,565,175.83 at the end of four weeks of trading. And this July, UNT representatives joined UNT's mascot, Scrappy, at the ringing of the New York Stock Exchange closing bell to accept a $50,000 grant from TD Ameritrade Intuitional as part of its NextGen Financial Planning Initiative.